by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Denny Hamlin picked up the 9th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Toyota / Save Mart 350 at the Sonoma Raceway when his #11 FedEx Toyota lost the engine after 2 of 110 laps.

The finish, which occurred in Hamlin’s 666th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since October 8, 2023 on the Charlotte “Roval,” 20 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 43rd for the #11, the 190th for Toyota, and the 719th from engine problems. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 63rd for the #11, the 412th for Toyota, and the 1,140th due to the engine.

As with his podcast “Actions Detrimental” and the ever-growing presence of 23XI Racing, Hamlin and his continuing pursuit of an elusive Cup Series Championship remain a storyline. While his most recent last-place finish in Charlotte didn’t eliminate him from the Playoffs, a steering failure in Homestead did, cutting short another impressive three-win season that moved him past the mark of 50 career victories. He’s picked up where he left off, already tying his 2023 win total in just 11 races – not counting his season-opening victory in the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, where he finished last in the 2022 inaugural. He prevailed in the chaotic Bristol race where Goodyear’s tires came apart at normal race speed, won again at Richmond despite a jumped late-race restart, then called his shot at Dover.

However, even on his podcast, Hamlin has conceded that road course racing remains his weak point. While he does have a win at Watkins Glen in 2016 and last year won the pole at Sonoma, the latter resulted in a last-place finish following a costly wreck in the closing stages. More famous in Hamlin’s career was his near-miss in 2016, when he passed Tony Stewart on the final lap, only to inexplicably miss the entrance to Turn 11, opening the door for Stewart to muscle his way past to his final victory. Despite four Top Fives and seven Top Tens in 18 starts, his last two Sonoma races in the NextGen era saw him finish no better than 31st.

In practice, Hamlin ranked 17th of the 38 entrants. He then ran 13th of the 19 drives in Qualifying Round 1B, clocking in at 1 minute, 14.151 seconds (96.614mph). This prevented him from defending his pole position of a year ago, and he would roll off 25th on Sunday.

Starting 38th was Erik Jones, whose #43 Dollar Tree Toyota was joined by teammate John Hunter Nemechek, set to start 37th in the #42 Save Mart Toyota. Jones, running the Harry Gant “throwback” scheme that Nemechek drove in North Wilkesboro, put up the slowest lap in Group A with a lap of 1 minute 15.205 seconds while Nemechek turned a session-high five laps, but ran no better than his first of 1 minute, 14.863. No drivers were sent to the rear for pre-race technical infractions, including 5th-place Kyle Larson, whose crew made allowable repairs to the right-rear decals following a glancing blow with the Turn 4 barrier in qualifying.

When the green flag dropped, Nemechek and Jones remained in the final row with Nemechek in the right-hand lane. Jones got a better start, so heading into Turn 12, the #42 had already dropped to the 38th spot. Coming around to complete Lap 1, Nemechek remained in last place, but was now stuck in the high lane alongside Kaz Grala in the #15 N29 Capital Partners Ford, and filling the mirror of Brad Keselowski’s #6 King’s Hawaiian / Despicable Me 4 Ford, a “top secret” paint scheme that was revealed on Friday. The lap after, Nemechek moved ahead of Grala, putting the #6 back to last place, and drew alongside Keselowski as trouble broke out ahead of them.

Coming to the stripe to begin Lap 3, Denny Hamlin’s car erupted in white smoke, then slowed as he crested the hill into Turn 2, where he pulled to a stop. The first of eight cautions – one short of the track record from 1990 – came out to check for fluid from Hamlin’s car. As the rest of the field followed, Nemechek and Grala both slipped in the oil, the #42 bouncing off the wall in Turn 1. Each still passed Keselowski, who briefly held 38th until the trio passed Hamlin at Turn 2. Hamlin climbed out, done for the day, and by Lap 6 made himself available for interviews behind the team’s hauler. According to Hamlin, he had no engine issues on the pace lap – the failure came out of nowhere. “Haven’t had one in some time,” he told Stephen Stumpf at Frontstretch.

On Lap 11, as NASCAR declared him the first car out, Hamlin’s car was towed into the garage area from the Turn 11 side. It was then pushed into Stall 3, where the crew removed pieces of the car for cleaning as they examined the reason for the failure. On Lap 15, the crew was already disassembling their pit box in Stall 29.

It was a similar story for teammate Ty Gibbs, who on Lap 16 felt his #54 He Gets Us Toyota glance off the brand-new jersey barriers at the exit of Turn 11. The impact, which tore away one of the Save Mart banners, caused significant damage to the right-front suspension that made him slow in Turn 1. Gibbs made it back to pit road, only to drop out of the race under the “Damaged Vehicle Policy.” On Lap 26, the crew was still repairing the right-front suspension, and by Lap 48 were able to push the car to the end of the garage, complete a series of turns, and load it onto JGR’s unmarked white trailer at the far side of the paddock.

That time by, NASCAR declared Gibbs out along with Austin Dillon, whose #3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet suffered the most significant damage from a multi-car pileup entering Turn 11 when a careening Josh Berry’s #4 Mobil 1 50th Anniversary Ford slid into traffic. Dillon was trying to reach minimum speed when his car slowed entering Turn 12 for the Lap 43 restart. The reason was a flat right-rear tire, which led to him short-cutting the course to return to pit road. At that moment, his “Crash Clock” expired, and he limped behind the wall, done for the day.

Cam Waters was one of two Australian racers making his NASCAR Cup Series debut, his in the return of RFK Racing’s “Stage 60” entry, the #60 AUKUS / BuildSubmarines.com Ford. After a hair-raising incident in practice that saw him spin in Turn 1 and narrowly miss colliding with two separate barriers, Waters was also collected in Berry’s incident, then on Lap 64 ran slowly on the frontstretch. He was credited with 66 laps complete before he fell out with crash damage, placing him 35th. Fellow Australian driver Will Brown spun on Lap 33, coasted onto pit road with the help of a service truck, but managed to come home 31st, three laps down.

Chase Briscoe rounded out the Bottom Five after a rough afternoon which saw him collected in a pileup at Turn 3A, one which ripped the rear bumper from his #14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford. For a time, Briscoe ran with three-quarters of his rear bumper missing until the crew managed to duct tape on a replacement. He cleared the “Crash Clock,” only to pull behind the wall with transmission issues. In the garage, the crew removed the air cleaner and checked behind the right-rear tire before they loaded up for the day.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marks the sixth time a Cup Series last-place finisher completed just two laps at Sonoma, and the first since June 21, 2009, when P.J. Jones’ #04 Jim Beam / Menards Toyota fell out with power steering issues. On June 24, 2012, Joe Nemechek turned only one lap at Sonoma before he lost the engine while both Tom Hubert on June 25, 2006 and Bobby Labonte on June 23, 2013 failed to complete a single lap.

*Hamlin is also the first driver since Hubert to finish last in back-to-back Cup Series races at Sonoma. Hubert’s streak was actually three in a row, all while driving for Kirk Shelmerdine Racing.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #11-Denny Hamlin / 2 laps / engine

37) #54-Ty Gibbs / 16 laps / dvp

36) #3-Austin Dillon / 39 laps / dvp

35) #60-Cam Waters / 66 laps / crash

34) #14-Chase Briscoe / 73 laps / transmission

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Spire Motorsports (3)

2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Penske Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (2)

3rd) Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Motorsports Business Management, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (7)

2nd) Chevrolet (5)

3rd) Toyota (3)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP